In current events, two major topics are currently being associated to the Philippines by the international media. One is the Haiyan typhoon, possibly the strongest typhoon ever recorded to hit this side of world.

As many as 10,000 people are feared dead in one city alone after the Super Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the central islands of the Philippines

The other topic is Ariella Arida, the country’s candidate in the recently concluded Miss Universe 2013, in which Ms Ariella won 3rd runner up.

Ariella Arida landed in the top 5 with alongside 4 other country contestants from Brazil, Ecuador, Spain, and Venezuela, whom eventually won the Miss Universe title.

During the question and answer portion, Arida was the only candidate to answer the question in English, which is about her opinion on the lack of jobs available to the young people of today. Arida responded about the importance of investing in education. She further stressed that good careers in the future can be sealed when there is education, a person’s primary ticket for a better future.

Early on in the competition, Arida also made waves in the international pageant when she was chosen as one of the six entrants to represent German luxury automobile brand Mercedes-Benz in a television advertorial.

Prior to being crowned as the pageant’s 3rd runner up and as Miss Universe – Philippines, Arida was a model and have also competed in a national beauty pageant in the past. Even before that, she graduated with a degree in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines – Los Banos, in her home province of Laguna.

Ariella, 25, also has a budding social media presence – active in the most important social networks of today. She has as close to 43,000 followers on Instagram and Twitter followers close to 39,000. Her Facebook account is private but users can use the “follow” button to find the latest in her newsfeed.

In case you are interested in checking out the Instagram account of Philippine’s beauty, we have selected some here for you, photos which shows her normal daily life away from the glamourous lights on stage:

On Twitter, the 3rd runner-up has an active profile even prior to being crowned Miss Universe Philippines. She was also actively tweeting months before the pageant in Moscow. Here’s what we noticed too, Ms Arida likes responding and engaging in conversations to people who tweeted directly to her:

International Beauty Pageants is one of the country’s most followed diversion. Just last month, the Philippines’ Megan Young bagged the top spot in the recently concluded Miss World 2013.

The country has been consistently winning international pageant titles in the last 3 – 5 years. And when these girls won, they became celebrities in their own right. I expect Arida to stay in the limelight starting from now on.